Fragmented Sleep "Harms Memory"

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Based on the findings of the National Academy of Science, "broken sleep affects the ability to build memories." A UK sleep expert claims that our brain evaluates the day's event and information is "saved" in our memory during our deep sleep. When our sleep is interrupted, not lack of, the "memorizing" process is disrupted. Researchers ran tests on mice. They found that mice, whose sleep has been disrupted, did not remember objects they have encountered previously. Researchers believe that these findings may explain why those who suffer from sleep apnea or Alzheimer experience memory lost, but there are no evidence to prove this. Additionally, I did some research and found that there is a connection between sleep and memory. I found that "sleep itself has a role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information."

I found this article interesting because I know my sleep always get interrupted by my phone going off in the middle of the night or when I get only a couple hours of sleep on some nights and my alarm goes off.  I find that on these days, my performance is less adequate than the days that I get a sufficient amount of uninterrupted sleep. This article may motivate people to become more attentive to their sleep patterns, especially college students like myself whose memory should be topnotch when finals come around.


Citations:
For some unknown reason, the first link is not "clickable" even though I linked the URL and tested the link. Therefore, here are both website URLs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14279123
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory